Learners will investigate probes and rovers to learn how they are built, learn about the propulsion, navigation, controls and daily handling of spacecraft, gather, and analyze data from multiple sources on the internet, and understand how rovers...(View More) communicate with Earth. The lesson uses the 5E instructional model and includes: TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, two Vocabulary Cards, a Vocabulary Toolbox and four workstation handouts. This is lesson 9 of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum.(View Less)

This is a set of three activities about the distance to Saturn. Learners will use simple props to create a playground model for size and distance for the Sun, Earth, and Saturn - then walk on their scale model to Saturn. Includes a glossary,...(View More) information for families, and guidance for deepening the science. This is lesson 2 of 8 in the Jewel of the Solar System: From Out-of-School to Outer Space an adaptation for afterschool programs of the Cassini-Huygens educational product Reading, Writing, and Rings.(View Less)

This activity is about planetary climate. Once familiar with the factors that determine a planet's surface temperature, learners will use an interactive spreadsheet model of a planet's atmosphere to determine if greenhouse gases, luminosity of the...(View More) source, the distance of the planet from the source and the albedo of the planet can be manipulated so that the average surface temperature on Mars or Venus could support human life. Learners will then be asked to make some conclusions about these methods and suggest improvements for the spreadsheet model (see related resources for link to this model). The activity requires use of Microsoft Excel software. This is Activity D in the fourth module, titled "How do Atmospheres Affect Planetary Temperatures?," of "Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate?."(View Less)

In this activity, students pose several hypotheses for what will happen if you continue heating or supplying energy to the hot and cold planet models (Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Earth) and then test their hypotheses using a spreadsheet based...(View More) radiation balance model. The activity supports investigation of a real world challenge, experimenting with life support conditions for Mars at an Arctic outpost. The interactive model runs are conducted using a Java applet. This resource includes student worksheets, assessment questions and a teacher's guide. This is Activity B in module 2, Modeling hot and cold planets, of the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.(View Less)

This is an activity involving science and creative writing. In groups, learners will develop their own list of the 12 most important tourist attractions the Solar System offers and make a travel brochure to explain their reasoning. This activity is...(View More) best done at the end of a unit or set of lessons about our Solar System. This is Actividad 13.1 as part of El Universo a Sus Pies, a Spanish-language curriculum, available for purchase.(View Less)

This is an activity involving science and creative writing. In groups, learners will develop their own list of the 12 most important tourist attractions the Solar System offers and make a travel brochure to explain their reasoning. This activity is...(View More) best done at the end of a unit or set of lessons about our Solar System. This is Activity M-2 of Universe at Your Fingertips 2.0: A Collection of Activities and Resources for Teaching Astronomy DVD-ROM, which is available for purchase.(View Less)